Wear resistant metal material conventionally consist of a solidified metal matrix in which hard particles such as borides, carbides, nitrides or intermetallic phases appear as inclusions. The wear resistance and the fracture toughness in such materials are usually highest when the hard particles are evenly dispersed in the metal matrix and when a net-like distribution is avoided. At a given amount of evenly dispersed hard particle the fracture strength of the material is reduced as the size of the hard particles is raised, while the fracture toughness is increased. This can be explained in the following way with reference to the accompanying FIGS. 1a and 1b. When the material is subjected to a tension or bending load, F, cracks are initially formed in the brittle hard particles, FIG. 1A. These cracks are the greater, the greater the hard particles are, and propagate already at a low tension to fracture; in other words the fracture strength decreases as the sizes of the hard particles are raised. At a given content of hard particles, however, the mean spacing between the hard particles increases with the sizes of the hard particles, FIG. 1b. Therefore, a plastic zone can be established in the metal matrix in front of a crack, avoiding further cracks in the hard particles, wherein the fracture toughness will increase in relation to the spacing between the hard particles. At a given content of hard particles and consequently at a given wear resistance, an improved fracture toughness is accompanied by an impaired fracture strength.